October 6, 2009

Marguerite Casey Foundation’s Statement Regarding ACORN

As a foundation whose mission is to create a movement of low-income families, Marguerite Casey Foundation funds organizations with a successful record of improving the economic well-being of families. ACORN has been one of those organizations.

The Foundation funded ACORN to rebuild homes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, to fight predatory lending practices, and to educate families about the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the federal government’s largest income-support program. EITC, which provides more than $40 billion dollars a year in wage supplements to lower-income workers, is credited with lifting more than 4 million people out of poverty annually.

In 2003, ACORN launched a four-city program, largely supported by Marguerite Casey Foundation, to provide tax preparation assistance to families eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit. At that time, the Internal Revenue Service estimated that some 5 million qualified families failed to claim the credit.

According to regional IRS reports, during the 2003 tax season, ACORN’s tax preparation assistance sites and its outreach program resulted in almost $4 million in tax refunds to low-income families. The next year, ACORN’s EITC assistance programs generated $19 million in refunds to families.

We have supported ACORN’s mission to strengthen low- to moderate-income communities, and we recognize ACORN’s successes; however, Marguerite Casey Foundation’s funding criteria include fiscal responsibility and a strong management structure. At this time, too many questions surround the management of ACORN and its finances for the foundation to continue funding them. As good stewards of the Foundation’s resources, we cannot fund ACORN until those questions have been resolved to our satisfaction.

We will, however, continue to support organizations like ACORN to ensure that low-income families have a voice, especially the 500,000 families who are members of ACORN.